Machine for scraping railway rails



Jan.13,197o M.J GROSS ETAL 3,488,789

MACHINE FOR SCRAPING RAILWAY RAILS Filed March 26, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet .l

Jan. 13, 1970 M. J. GROSS ET Al- MAGHINE FOR scRAPING RAILWAY RAILS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 26, 1968 United States Patent O 3,488,789 MACHINE FOR SCRAPING RAILWAY RAILS Maurice J. Gross and George W. Johnson, Rockford, Ill.,

assignors to Rock-Mill, Inc., Rockford, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Mar. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 716,005 Int. Cl. E01h 8/10, 8/06 U.S. Cl. 15 93 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Accumulated gunk is scraped from the sides of a used railway rail as the latter is fed longitudinally between a pair of scraping blades disposed on opposite sides of the rail and shaped to conform generally with the prolile of the rail. At the same time, the lower surface of the rail is cleaned by a bottom blade positioned below the rail to engage and scrape the lower surface.

This invention relates to the removing of gunk such as grease and dirt from sections of previously used railway rails in order to clean the rails and enable effective endto-end welding of the rails into a long, continuous track.

In recent years, many railroads have found it advantageous to replace short sections of rails with a continuous length of rail, sometimes more than one mile long, to avoid frequent joints between the rails and thereby produce a smoother ride. In many instances, the continuous track is formed from the previously used short sections which, after lbeing pulled up from the roadbed and the ties, are butted together end-to-end and linked rigidly to one another by a conventional electric welding operation.

To insure the production of effective welds capable of passing a rigid inspection, it is necessary first to clean the short rail sections of all of the gunk (e.g., grease, creosote and dirt) which accumulated on the rails during their previous use. If such gunk is left on the end portions of the rails near the area of the weld, electrode burns will occur during welding and the resulting joint will be unsatisfactory.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a new and relatively simple rail scraping machine for cleaning gunk from railway rails in an easy manner and at rapid rates.

A more detail object is to clean the sides of the rail with a pair of scraper blades adapted to engage the rail and scrape away the gunk as the rail is fed longitudinally between the blades.

The invention also resides in the novel prole of the blades to insure scraping of the entire side of the rail and particularly the otherwise difficult to clean areas at the upper and lower ends of the web of the rail.

A further object is to prevent the gunk from accumulating lbetween the blades and the rail and interfering with the longitudinal movement of the rail.

Another object is to mount the blades for floating toward and away from the rails to enable the blades to accommodate both crooked rails and protruding surface projections on the sides of the rails.

Still another object is to scrape the bottom of the rail at the same time gunk is being removed from the sides of the rail.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description proceeds when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. l is a fragmentary perspective view of an exemplary rail scraping machine embodying the novel features of the present invention;

3,488,789 Patented Jan. 13, 1970 FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 2 2 of FIG. l and showing parts in moved positions;

F IG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 3 3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 4 4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the scraping blades; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary cross-section taken substantially along the line 6 6 of FIG. 5.

Referring to FIGS. l and 3, there is shown a section of used railway rail 10 which is to be welded end-to-end with another section to form a long, continuous track. The exemplary rail is of substantially I-shaped cross-section and includes an upper ball 11 and a lower base 13 which are interconnected .by an upright web 14, the web merging gradually with and rounding smoothly into the ball and the base as indicated at 15 and 16 in FIG. 3. While the crosssectional shape of rails of dilferent weights vary to some extent, most are generally similar to the exemplary rail and are sized and shaped in accordance with standards prescribed by the American Railroad Engineering Associa tion (A.R.E.A.).

In service use, a considerable amount of gunk builds up on each rail 10, especially on the web 14, the underside of the ball 11 and the upper side of the base 13. That is, lubricants applied to the rails and grease and oil slung from locomotives and journal boxes accumulate on these areas, mix with dirt and creosote from the roadbed, and eventually form a thick and somewhat sticky coating on the rails. Before the used rails can be effectively welded together into a continuous track, such gunk must be removed to provide relatively clean surfaces in the areas at which the welds are to be made.

To facilitate cleaning of the used rails 10, the present invention contemplates a novel rail scraping machine 20 which is capable of removing essentially all of the gunk on the rails at much faster rates and with considerably less effort than has been possible heretofore. To these ends, the machine includes a pair of scraper blades 21 engageable with opposite sides of each rail to shave away the gunk as the rail is fed longitudinally between the blades at a relatively rapid rate. Each blade is formed with a prole conforming generally to that of the rail and, as a result, practically all of the gunk is scraped away during a single pass of the rail and very little gunk is left remaining for manual removal.

More specically, the machine 20 includes a box-like frame 23 (FIG. 1) within the upper portion of which is housed a conventional rail feeding mechanism 24 (e.g., a power-driven belt) operable to push the rail 10 forwardly in a substantially horizontal path along support rollers 25 journaled on the frame beneath the rail. Fastened to the forward end portion of the frame are two vertically spaced and horizontally extending plates 26 and 27 interconnected by posts 29 and serving to support the scraper blades 21, the latter normally being disposed `in operative positions( shown in full in FIG. 2) in engagement with opposite sides of the rail to scrape gunk from the sides of the web 114, the lower surface of the ball 11 and the upper side of the base 13.

Advantageously, the blades 21 are mounted for swinging from their operative positions to retracted positions (shown in phantom in FIG. 2) spaced away from the rail 10 in 'order to permit initial rapid feeding of the rail between the blades without danger of the leading end of the rail striking and damaging the blades. For this purpose, each blade is carried on one arm of a bellcrank assembly 30 mounted for back and forth swinging on an upright post 31 spanning the support plates 26 and 27.

Each bellcrank is swung back and forth about its respective mounting post in response to the admission of pressure fiuid into the ends of a fluid-actuated operator in the form of a double-acting, pneumatic ram 33 which communicates with a pressure source (not shown) through conduits 34. As shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, each ram rests freely on a short post 34a and includes a reciprocating plunger 35 attached at its free end to a vertical pin 36 which is pivotally connected to the bellcrank 30 at a point spaced forwardly from the post 31. The opposite end of the ram is pivoted on a smaller pin 37 (FIG. 2) fastened to a bracket 39 fixed on the post 29.

When the plungers 35 of the rams 33 are retracted, the blades 21 are swung away from another about the posts 31 to enable free passage of the end of the rail 10 between the blades. Thereafter, the plungers are extended to swing the blades toward one another and into engagement with the sides of the rail. As the rail is fed past the blades, the rams are held under a constant pressure of approximately 80 p.s.i. to urge the blades into tight pressing engagement with the rail and thus insure thorough scraping of the gunk. Should the rail be slightly crooked or embossed on its web 14 with protruding numerals or other indicia, the blades will automatically swing outwardly about the posts 31 as far as necessary to conform to rail and to permit the latter to pass. During such swinging, the plungers 35 are momentarily pushed a short distance toward their retracted positions against the pressure exerted by the rams and, at the same time, the rams and the plungers pivot or oat about the pins 36 and 37 and on the posts 34a to accommodate movement of the blades. Thus, the blades are urged into positive engagement with the rail by the rams but areallowed to tloat outwardly in case of an irregularity in the rail.

In carrying out the invention, each blade 21 is preferably proiiled to conform with the profile defined between the lower outer corner of the ball 11 and the upper outer corner of the base 13 of the rail 10. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, each blade is of substantially U-shaped configuration and is fastened near its outer end to its respective bellcrank 30 by screws 40 (FIG. 3). The inner end or scraping portion of the blade is formed with an edge 41 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which is beveled at an angle a of about 5 degrees to define a sharpened scraping edge extending around the inner end of the blade from an upper point A to a lower point B. The scraping edge includes a substantially straight upright portion 43 for engaging and scraping the side ofthe web 13, an upwardly and outwardly curved portion 44 merging gradually with the upper end of the upright portion for scraping the underside of the ball 11 and the junction 15 between the web and the ball, and a downwardly and outwardly extending portion 45 merging gradually with the lower end of the web for scraping the upper side of the base 13 and the junction 16 between the web and the base. Thus, as the rail is pushed past the blades, the gunk is shaved oiic of the entire web and te upper and lower surfaces of the base and the ball. In addition, the gunk is scraped away from the junctions and 16 which are particularly diflicult to reach and clean with hand manipulated scraping tools.

As explained above, the profiles of the rails vary with rails of different weight and thus best results are obtained by using differently shaped blades 21 when cleaning heavier or lighter rails. Accordingly, a machine usually will be manufactured and sold with a number of sets of blades with each set corresponding in profile to that of a different A.R.E.A. standard rail.

Preferably, an enlarged hole 46 is formed in each blade Z1 to permit the gunk scraped from the rail 10 to pass by the blade and to insure against the possi-bility of the gunk building up behind the blade and restricting longitudinal feeding of the rail. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the hole extends completely through the blade and is defined by edges which generally parallel the scraping edge 41, a substantial portion of the hole underlying the ball 11 and overlying the base 13. With this arrangement, the gunk shaved from the rail by the blades tends to pass forwardly through the holes and falls either to the ground or onto that portion of the base that as already been scraped. Thus, the relatively heavy gunk is prevented from piling up and becoming packed between the rail, the blades and the bellcranks 30 and will not jam the machine. Any gunk which falls back onto the scraped portion of the base is quite loose and will fall to the ground during subsequent handling of the rail.

To reduce the amount of manual cleaning required, the bottom of the rail 10 preferably is scraped at the same time the sides are being cleaned by the blades 21. For this purpose, a bottom blade 50 (FIGS. 3 and 4) is positioned beneath the rail and is urged into engagement with the underside of the base 13 to scrape the gunk therefrom as the rail passes between the side blades 21. Herein, the bottom blade is simply a rectangular steel plate formed with a sharpened scraping edge 51 and fastened to a yoke-like bracket 53 (FIG. 4). The latter is mounted to swing on a horizontal pin 54 fastened to a block 55 on the lower plate 27, and is forced upwardly about the pin by the plunger 56 of a pneumatic actuator 57 fastened to the underside of the plate. When the plunger is extended, the bottom blade is pressed into an operative position in engagement with lower side of the rail base 13 to shave away the gunk as the rail is fed past the blade. The loose gunk falls to the ground through an opening 60 (FIG. 4) in the bracket 53 and an alined hole 61 in the plate 27, and thus there is no danger of the gunk becoming packed beneath the rail. During initial feeding of the rail, the plunger 56 may be retracted to allow the blade to swing downwardly about the pin 54 to a retracted position spaced from the bottom of the rail.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that the new and improved rail scraping machine 20 of the present invention is effective to remove gunk from both the sides and the bottom of the rail 10 and is particularly useful in scraping the gunk away from the hard to reach junctions 15, 16 of the web 14 with the ball 11 and the base 13. The machine is capable of relatively high speed operation and accommodates rails fed at a rate of between 1/2 and 1 foot per second. Thus, the machine can easily clean as much as 1/2 mile of used rail per hour.

We claim as our invention:

1. A machine for removing gunk from a section of previously used railway rail of substantially I-shaped cross-section and having a lower base and an upper ball interconnected by an upright web, said machine comprising means for feeding said rail longitudinally along a predetermined path, at least one scraper blade positioned along said path along one side of said rail, said blade including a generally U-shaped scraping portion sized to it between said base and said ball and defining a scraping edge profiled to engage the side of the web, the upper surface of the base and the lower side of the ball to scrape gunk from the web and at least from the junctions of the web with the base and the ball as the rail is fed along said path, and an enlarged open hole extending through said blade adjacent said scraping edge to accommodate the passage of scraped gunk through the blade from the rear to the front thereof.

2. A machine for removing gunk from a section of previously used railway rail of substantially I-shaped cross-section and having a lower base and an upper ball interconnected by an upright web; said `machine comprising mechanism for feeding said rail longitudinally along a substantially horizontal path; a frame; a pair of scraper blades supported on said frame and disposed on opposite sides of said path alongside said rail; each of said blades having a generally U-shaped scraping portion sized to iit between said base and said ball and defining a scraping edge proled to engage the side of the web, the upper surface of the base and the lower surface of the ball to scrape gunk from the web and from the junctions of the web with the base and the ball as the rail is fed along said path; said blades being connected pivotally to said frame to swing toward and away from the sides of the rail about upright axes, and means connected to said blades and operable to swing the latter toward said rail about said` axes and to yieldably urge the blades into engagement with the sides of the rail with a selected amount of pressure.

3. A machine as deiined in claim 2 in which each scraping edge includes an upright portion 'for engaging and scraping said web, an upwardly and outwardly curved portion merging gradually with the upper end of said upright portion for engaging and scraping the underside of said ball and the junction between the ball and the web, and a downwardly and outwardly curved portion merging gradually with the lower end of said upright portion for engaging and scraping the upper side of said base and the junction between the base and the web.

4. A machine as defined in claim 2 in which the scraping portion of each blade is profiled to conform substantially with the profile delined between the lower outer corner of the ball and the upper outer corner of the base of an A.R.E.A. standard rail.

5. A machine as defined in claim 2 further including an enlarged, open hole extending through each blade and accommodating the passage of loose gunk -from behind the blade.

6. A machine as vdefined in claim 5 in which the hole in each blade is defined by edges which generally parallel said scraping edge portions.

7. A machine as deined in claim 5 in which each hole includes a portion underlying the ball and overlying the base of the rail.

8. A machine as defined in claim 2 in which said blades are mounted on said frame to swing about said axes between operative positions in engagement with said rail and retracted positions spaced apart from each other a distance greater than the Width of the rail to permit intial rapid feeding of the latter between the blades, and said means comprising fluid-actuated rams connected pivotally to said blades at points spaced from said axes to swing the blades between said positions and operable to yieldably urge the blades into engagement with the sides of the rail with a selected amount of pressure.

9. A machine as dened in claim 2 further including a bottom scraping blade positioned on said frame beneath said path and engageable with the lower surface of said base to scrape gunk from such surface as the -rail is fed along said path.

10. A machine as defined in claim 9 in which Said bottom blade is mounted on said frame for up and down movement between an operative position in engagement with said rail and a retracted position spaced below said rail, and an actuator connected to said bottom blade and selectively operable to move the latter between said positions.

11. A scraping blade for removing gunk from a section of previously used railway rail of substantially I-shaped cross-section and having a lower base and an upper -ball interconnected by an upright web; said blade comprising a generally U-shaped scraping portion sized to dit between said base and said ball and defining a scraping edge proiiled to engage the side of the web, the upper sur face of the base and the lower side of the ball to scrape gunk from the web and at least from the junctions of the web with the base and the ball as the rail is fed longitudinally past the blade; and an enlarged, open hole extending through said blade adjacent said scraping edge to accommodate passage of scraped gunk from behind said blade.

12. A machine as deiined in claim 11 in which said scraping edge includes an upright portion for engaging and scraping said web, an upwardly and outwardly curved portion merging gradually with the upper end of said upright portion for engaging and scraping the underside of said ball and the junction between the ball and the web, and a downwardly and outwardly curved portion merging gradually with the lower end of said upright portion for engaging and scraping the upper side of said base and the junction between the base and the web.

13. A machine as defined in claim 11 in which the cutting portion of said blade is profiled to conform substantially with the prole deiined between the lower outer corner of the ball and the upper outer corner of the base of an A.R.E.A. standard rail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 790,760 5 1905 Stuart. 1,547,386 7/ 1925 Hanson. 223,564 1/1880 Webb.

1,317,049 9/1919 Smith. 1,603,367 10/l926 Ward. 1,759,325 5/ 1930 Schmidt.

2,251,978 8/1941 Caldwell et al. 15-93 X 2,748,720 6/1956 Kling 15-4 X FOREIGN PATENTS 434,964 9/ 1935 Great Britain.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner L. G. MACHLIN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 104-279 

